Firefox’s lack of bona-fide profile management been a long-standing irritation to ardent fans of the browser, but Mozilla — in its bout of ‘maybe users aren’t wrong for asking for this’ feature gap filling of late — is finally rolling one out.
Mozilla announced profile management in Firefox will be available to all users from 14 October 2025 (next week at the time I write this). That’s the same day Firefox 144 is released, so we can take it as read it’ll be a headline feature.
Not that this feature is new-new.
Firefox’s profile manager was added in the Firefox 138 release back in April, but as a “progressive rollout” feature. Clearly not a fast rollout as per Mozilla’s dev blog only 5.5% of users got as of 9 October (but they note among those using it, “telemetry data looks good”).
It’s also been possible to use it without waiting for Mozilla to bless your with it. Anyone can dive in to the about:config page, find the relevant setting (spoiler: search for ‘profile’ in the input field on that page), and turn it on manually.
But from next week, everyone will be able to use profiles in Firefox as the new, user-friendly profile manager will be available out of the box (it may be held back for those on Windows 10 due to a few outstanding bugs).
Will be be worth the wait?
Mozilla certainly thinks so.
“It’s an easy way to stay organized, focused and private,” say Mozilla, who add that by “keeping your different roles online neatly separate, you spend less mental energy juggling contexts and avoid awkward surprises”.
Browser profiles can be useful if you want to use the same browser, but with different sets of tabs, bookmarks, extensions, saved logins, etc., designed specific tasks or themes, like personal use, shopping, study or work, etc.
Mozilla also listed why Firefox profiles are better than those offered in other browsers, who they mock for offering them “mainly for convenience”.
So how are they not just different, but better?
Mozilla reiterates that Firefox is ‘built with privacy as a default’ (apart from all the data it does collect by default, like how you use profiles) and that its browser profiles will not “mix data” – like the Las Vegas slogan, ‘what happens here, stays here’.
Additionally, Mozilla talks up the personalisation options its take offers, with colours, themes and custom avatars. This, they add, means “your work profile can feel buttoned-up, while your personal profile reflects your style”.
I should add that Vivaldi, Chrome etc all support custom themes, colours and avatars in their “profile” features too, so that’s not really a point of differentiation, Mozilla…
Anyway, that’s that; if you’ve been among those longing for proper profiles, keep an eye out for the feature in the Firefox 144 release on 14 October (assuming you haven’t already enabled them in an earlier build, that is).
Other recent Mozilla news: their new Adtech arm has partnered with Snap Inc; they confirmed dates for ‘coffee raves’ to be held Germany and the US to promote Firefox; and launched an AI-created game (“guided by stimulus from paid artists and prompt engineers”) lambasting tech billionaires as a tie-in for an event they’re hosting at—*checks notes*—Twitch Con. As in Twitch. Owned by a company owned by a billionaire. It makes sense in one timeline, I’m sure.